Chapter 294: Why Didn’t You Buy My Doll? |
Editor/Quality Checker: Saphartlantis
Murim Term Consultant: Kopke
========================
Geom Woojin lifted his head and gazed at Deokchul intently, then confirmed the address written on the paper.
"This is my house, indeed."
"Oh, it seems I found the right place," Deokchul responded with a smile, sitting down across from him. Though he was the first ordinary person to have a private meeting with the Heavenly Demon, he had no idea how monumental this moment truly was.
"Your son is Geom Mugeuk, correct?"
From this point on, Deokchul’s mission was clear. He had to gently coax and persuade Geom Woojin to confirm that he was the father of that boy and get him to sign a guarantee.
"Your son borrowed some money. So, you will need to act as his guarantor."
The next second, Geom Woojin burst into loud laughter. 1
Jo Chunbae, who was downstairs, was shocked. It was the first time he’d seen the Cult Leader laugh like that.
Even Hui, the hidden bodyguard, was amazed—it had been a long time since he’d seen the Heavenly Demon laugh so heartily.
Still chuckling, Geom Woojin spoke.
"I don’t have a son who makes his father stand as a loan guarantor."
As if expecting this reaction, Deokchul stood up from his seat and subtly moved to sit beside Geom Woojin.
Jo Chunbae, who had been watching, clenched his fists in alarm. The hearts of the other patrons raced too, anticipating dreadfully what might happen next.
‘Please, don’t let his head roll down to the first floor!’
Everyone knew it, except for Deokchul himself—he was completely unaware of just how dangerous this moment was.
Deokchul poured Geom Woojin a drink, trying to comfort him.
"That’s what everyone says. But what can you do? Even if the kid is a nuisance, you still have to pay the debt for him."
Thankfully, Deokchul refrained from patting Geom Woojin on the shoulder.
‘Never touch his body!’
Jo Chunbae prayed earnestly.
"To be honest with you, if your son can’t repay the debt, people will come after you. Debt collectors are scary people, so you should be cautious."
It seemed Geom Woojin was greatly enjoying this situation, something he had never experienced before.
"You don’t need to worry about me."
"Then, please take a moment to read this. Once you’ve gone over it, you can sign it at your leisure."
Deokchul placed the document in front of Geom Woojin and stood up, giving him some time to read.
"Huh?"
His eyes caught sight of the inscriptions on the wall. It was a wall where the Demon Supremes had left their words and signatures.
"Looks like a lot of famous people have passed through here."
Meanwhile, Geom Woojin, with a reluctant expression, signed the document.
"You did the right thing. This is all for your son’s benefit."
Deokchul, glancing down at the signed document, suddenly flinched in surprise again.
Jo Chunbae and the patrons on the first floor perked up once more.
‘Yes, compare it with the writing on the wall! Turn your head, please!’
Was it because of everyone’s collective wish? Deokchul slowly turned and looked at the wall.
His eyes widened. It seemed like he was finally realizing the presence of the Heavenly Demon.
"The handwriting isn’t just similar—it’s identical! Wow, that’s amazing!"
An exasperated sigh escaped Jo Chunbae’s lips. A nearby customer’s hand went limp, dropping the chopsticks they had been holding, while another person, clutching their head in despair, spilled their drink while groaning. 2
"Surely, they don’t look alike too, do they?"
It didn’t even cross Deokchul’s mind that he might actually be meeting the real Heavenly Demon in such a place.
"You better be careful. You might get accused of impersonating the Heavenly Demon at this rate." 3
Just then, someone entered the tavern.
The entire first floor held its breath.
A man strode in and headed upstairs.
Deokchul, barely glancing at the newcomer, instinctively bowed in greeting, thinking he looked vaguely familiar. But the moment he looked at his face, he jumped in shock, letting out a stifled scream. He did know this person—it was none other than the Fist Demon King!
Dan Woo-gang remembered seeing Deokchul near the outer walls earlier too. His expression conveyed a clear message.
‘Why do you keep showing up in front of me?’
The tension in the tavern rose sharply again. The danger level had doubled.
The Fist Demon King respectfully greeted Geom Woojin.
"I heard you were here, so I came to see you. I’ve just returned."
"Did everything go well?"
"Yes, Cult Leader."
At the words "Cult Leader," Deokchul blurted out without thinking,
"He’s not the Cult Leader, he just looks like him!"
Another round of frustrated sighs and barely contained swears erupted from the first floor. 4
Geom Woojin chuckled, while Dan Woo-gang looked bewildered.
"What the...?"
As Deokchul blinked in confusion, his impression of the people around him slowly began to shift. After all, why would the Fist Demon King—who would never mistake someone for the Cult Leader—address a lookalike as such?
And the response from the supposed lookalike? "Did everything go well?" Why would he say that? Well, obviously because he wasn’t a lookalike at all—he was the real deal.
As Deokchul’s mind reached this inevitable conclusion, his thoughts screeched to a halt and his face turned deathly pale. He let out a low groan, his entire body trembling uncontrollably like a shaking leaf.
Dan Woo-gang then asked Geom Woojin a question.
"Who is this man?" the Fist Demon King asked.
"He came asking me to be a guarantor for my son’s debt," Geom Woojin replied while chuckling.
The Fist Demon King looked at Deokchul with utter disbelief. 5
"No! Absolutely not! There’s been some kind of mistake. I’m sorry! Please spare my life!"
Deokchul immediately fell prostrate, fully realizing that he was face-to-face with the real Heavenly Demon. On this fateful day, he’d not only seen four Demon Supremes but also the Heavenly Demon himself—a personal record, one he had never wished for.
At that moment, Geom Woojin suddenly asked,
"Why didn’t you buy my doll?"
The question, of course, referred to the Heavenly Demon Spirit doll, as there was no official Cult Leader doll. And out of all the trials Deokchul had faced that day, this might have been the most difficult. Jo Chunbae and the patrons on the first floor tensed up again.
Then, even the Fist Demon King joined in.
"What about mine?"
Deokchul glanced down at the Blood Heaven Blade Demon and Demonic Buddha dolls attached to his waist. The large sword and the golden glow made them stand out too much.
‘Ah! I should’ve bought the Heavenly Demon Spirit and Fist Demon King dolls!’
Was he going to die because of this momentary decision? He silently cursed the goatee-sporting merchant who sold him the wrong dolls.
Deokchul, unsure how to respond, finally muttered in a dejected tone,
"Your dolls were just too scary, so I couldn’t buy them."
It was an honest answer, and it turned out to be the right one. Geom Woojin laughed, and Dan Woo-gang joined in. Unexpectedly, Deokchul had earned the rare reward of making the Heavenly Demon and the Fist Demon King laugh heartily.
Geom Woojin pulled a piece of paper from his robes and flicked it through the air. It floated gently, landing in Deokchul’s hands.
To his astonishment, it was a promissory note worth a thousand nyang.
"On your way out, buy one of my dolls and one of his, too."
Deokchul’s eyes widened in shock, and silent surprise rippled through the first floor.
"You don’t want to?"
"What? No! Of course! I’ll buy them! Right away!"
For the first time that day, Deokchul accurately grasped the situation in front of him.
"I’ll quit this line of work immediately and return to my hometown to live a virtuous life! With this money, I’ll buy land, farm it, and take care of my parents like a good son!"
Deokchul had given the correct answer, and before he knew it, he was flying through the air—not metaphorically, but quite literally. With a simple wave of Geom Woojin’s hand, Deokchul gently floated down to the first floor.
The patrons on the first floor erupted in admiration and applause. Though he had been met with sighs of pity all day, Deokchul had finally earned everyone’s envy and respect. 6
Jo Chunbae, wearing a warm smile, said,
"I’ll need your signature too. It looks like you’ll go down in history as the luckiest person alive."
"Thank you for treating me as a guest. I promise, I’ll come back someday!" 7
With tears welling in his eyes, Deokchul bowed respectfully toward the second floor before proudly leaving the tavern.
"Back in my youth, I worked at the money exchange office... and now on my first mission…" —he reflected dreamily on the most unbelievable day of his life.
Jo Chunbae also looked up at the second floor. Although Deokchul had been rude many times, the Cult Leader had shown him mercy. Not only that, but he had given him a chance at a new life. Jo Chunbae felt a deep sense of respect for Geom Woojin.
Most of all, Jo Chunbae was overjoyed to have heard the Heavenly Demon laugh out loud that day.
He walked over to the wall behind the counter, marked the date, and wrote:
"The day the Cult Leader laughed heartily in my tavern." 8
In all his years running the tavern, this was a day he would never forget. He had never experienced such a joyful day.
Meanwhile, on the second floor, a conversation between the two most manly men of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was taking place. Since Geom Woojin trusted the Fist Demon King the most, their conversation flowed naturally and comfortably.
“You seem to be in a good mood”, Dan Woo-gang observed.
“Did you think I’d ever end up being someone’s loan guarantor in my lifetime?”
“When you’re with Mugeuk, you end up experiencing things you never imagined. Like unexpectedly gaining a foster daughter.”
The Fist Demon King had come to inform the Heavenly Demon of this development.
“I’ve decided to take Lee Ahn, who served as Mugeuk’s bodyguard, as my foster daughter.”
Though Geom Woojin was rarely surprised, this news caught him completely off guard.
He quickly filled Dan Woo-gang’s cup to the brim with alcohol.
“Congratulations.”
The Fist Demon King downed the drink in one go.
Then, it was his turn to fill Geom Woojin’s cup.
“I’ve gained both a disciple and a daughter. It seems my fortunes are blooming late in life.”
“Daughters are better than sons. Raising a son is... well, in the end…”
Geom Woojin’s gaze drifted out the window.
Still, for a brief moment today, he thought about his son—the one shamelessly trying to make him a guarantor—and found himself wanting to see him, just a little. 9
* * *
Meanwhile, Geom Mugeuk had shut himself away in the guest room, fully focused on training in the Heavenly Time Secret Art.
Now, all of his training revolved around that technique. This allowed him to spend significantly more time on his cultivation. The more time he gained, the more training he could do, and the more progress he made in mastering the technique.
As he was deep in his practice, Ju Yang, the owner of the money exchange office, showed up.
“I’ve dealt with all kinds of lunatics in this business, but I’ve never seen anyone who listed the Cult Leader as their father.”
When Deokchul left the exchange office, he submitted his first—and last—report, calling the man who had written the Cult Leader’s name as his guarantor a lunatic. Naturally, there was no way the Heavenly Demon’s son would have taken out a loan using Underworld Debt. 10
"You’ve never even met the Cult Leader, so how can you accuse me of impersonating his son?"
"You probably thought we wouldn’t notice, but we’ve met him."
"You’ve met my father?"
"They say he was drinking alone in some shabby tavern."
This time, Geom Mugeuk laughed out loud—a laugh eerily similar to the one his father, Geom Woojin, had let out at the Flowing Wind Tavern.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I’m laughing because I’m reminded of my father."
He pictured his father sitting alone, drinking at the tavern, bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. The thought made him long to see his father.
"Do you really need to be dragged to the Demonic Cult, have your skin peeled off, and tossed into a salt pit before you snap out of it?"
"Do you have the guts to take me there?"
Ju Yang’s eyes hardened with hostility.
"You think we’re just some petty thugs who deal with Underworld Debt, don’t you?"
"Well, aren’t you?"
A cold sneer crept across Ju Yang’s lips.
‘I’ve been bored lately, but now here comes an entertaining one.’
His mind filled with thoughts of how he could break this insolent brat, though he kept his emotions hidden. After all, there was no greater pleasure than calmly leading someone into hell.
"I was asked to reveal my father’s name, so I did. I was told to write down my address, so I did."
Even as Geom Mugeuk stubbornly maintained his stance, Ju Yang didn’t lose his temper. He knew that the punishment was already written into the terms of the loan.
"You’re young; I can understand that. People often give false addresses. But from now on, the amount to be repaid is one hundred nyang."
"A hundred nyang? I only borrowed ten!"
Ju Yang pulled out the loan agreement from his pocket and held it up.
"Look here, it’s written clearly. If you provide false information about your address or family, you must repay ten times the amount you borrowed."
"The print’s too small to read, and the language is too complicated." 11
"It’s basic practice to provide accurate information on a loan agreement, isn’t it? Anyway, the amount you now owe is one hundred nyang. And, of course, the interest will also be calculated based on that amount."
"Why do you keep saying I gave false information? I told you the truth."
Ju Yang responded in a soft, almost gentle tone.
"What will you do if I bring a real demon here?"
His tone implied that he had something up his sleeve, something or someone to back him up.
Sensing that asking politely wouldn’t get him the answers he wanted, Geom Mugeuk scoffed under his breath,
"Talk about a guy who only deals with Underworld Debt acting like he can summon a demon." 12
1 : He has a better sense of humor than at the start ^^ Then again, since Mugeuk is always creating chaos, at one point, you just start to let it go XDXDXD
2 : Lol, I’m sorry for them, but comparing their despair to his denseness is just way too funny XDXDXD
3 : Everyone below are facepalming so hard right now XDXDXD
4 : Bwahahahaha, this is legendary XDXDXD He’s at Japanese MC level of denseness, the famed ‘Black Hole’ ^^ You can feel that everyone are barely restraining themselves from going up to punch him XDXDXD
5 : Lol, even his jaw is dropping XDXDXD
6 : Yay, he’ll live !!! I’m so glad, his character was too funny to be deleted ^^ Now he’ll become a legend ^^
7 : Maybe next time he’ll meet all the other Demon Supremes and Mugeuk ^^ It would be fun for him to become a drinking buddy with the latter ^^
8 : Awww, this is so cute and precious ^^
9 : Cute ^^
10 : Hehehehe, you don’t know the craziness of the Heavenly Demon’s son at all ^^
11 : Even in Murim, the ‘I Agree to this breach of Privacy’ boxes are everywhere XDXDXD Merchants *smh* When they realize he had told the truth this whole time, ohohoho, it’s gonna be so much fun~~ ^^
12 : The bait have been launched, now to reel it in as soon as he bites ^^
*Ooff, got 112 series hit by DCMA at once today (for me, not for you. Back to the Future !!!!). Yeeesh, brutal. It’s probably a scheme from Hwa Moogi to prevent all of us from seeing him beaten up !!! Quick, donate 3 trillions $ to overthrow this devious scheme !!! (VAT might apply. Also, thank you if you do/did so ^^)